but if you start the system at init3 way and not 4,that mean in text mode, with ctrl+alt+backspace you can relog in and change your desktop environment without reboot the computer.see the porteus.config into the boot directory.

well ed_P can read the log located into the /var/log directory,for searching the issue,but if he change some line into the porteus.config can start the system with the text mode,init3 and if something goes wrong he can read why.

phhpro wrote:Pressing CTLT-ALT-F2 while already running a full desktop env simply tells the system to open a new instance. You are NOT exiting, but switching. In simple words: you are effectively running two more or less independent sessions. There's literally no limit to the number of sessions one can start, other then RAM of course.

Wow!! How does one know how many sessions are open and under what user ids?

What exactly is the problem?

When shutting down/rebooting I see MANY msgs on the terminal screen. Some are error msgs. Many are msgs related/connected to things that I have seen/done on the desktop GUI. I personally don't think these latter msgs should be written to the terminal log at all. But in both cases to have the msgs reviewed by people who understand Linux I need a way to view and capture them. Using a camera works but not well.

beny wrote:well ed_P can read the log located into the /var/log directory,for searching the issue,but if he change some line into the porteus.config can start the system with the text mode,init3 and if something goes wrong he can read why.

The /var/log directory only shows the booting msgs last I looked. So you are saying if I can change the porteus.config file that log will show error msgs also? Can that change/option be made via a cheatcode?

if you use extlinux bootloader there is a text mode boot,that start in init3 you have to log in with root and toor and startx,shure that problems is porteus core and not a software that you have installed? in txt mode do not save changes, you have to adds the directory like the others option.

I've also used QEMU via StartLinux to boot it but it is horrendously slow that way.

phhpro wrote:

Ed_P wrote:When shutting down/rebooting I see MANY msgs on the terminal screen. Some are error msgs. Many are msgs related/connected to things that I have seen/done on the desktop GUI. I personally don't think these latter msgs should be written to the terminal log at all. But in both cases to have the msgs reviewed by people who understand Linux I need a way to view and capture them. Using a camera works but not well.

I fail to recognise any such on my own box. Is your CD stock,

Very stock. And the fact that you don't see msgs like those posted here: viewtopic.php?f=81&t=2982#p20805 reinforces my question, WHY are they appearing on my system?

Did you check your X logs?

Refresh my memory, X logs??

Or better still, eye whatever log you can find. It's got to be in there somewhere.

Is there a global search function that I can use to find logs?

Um, what you consider non-relevant for the terminal log is one thing. Usually the system has a different opinion; and usually is right about it.

?? I looked and it sounds like a Linux server system. How does it relate to Porteus??

Logs: most standards compliant systems would put them under /var/log

Ok. Thank you.

CDs: what's wrong with them? Believe it or not, I'm having Porteus happily running off a RW - but of course I'm rather old-fashioned

Many, most, new systems don't have CD drives. And while I have a USB CD drive I rarely use it.

Grub4DOS: Now who's the anachronism? DOS???

Don't let part of the name mislead you. The 1st 4 letters are more important. Google it, you will be impressed with it's capabilities.

Say, what exactly are your system specifics?

Numerous bootable USB sticks and a Acer netbook with 2GB of RAM, a hdd divided into 3 partitions, all NTFS, with Windows 7 on the primary, data files on the 2ndary and backups and ISOs on the 3rd.

Posts: Frankly, I'm not interested in tracing other people's posts, except when I'm searching for something in particular. Such is not the case.

No need to trace posts but reading links to info pertinent to the discussion would be wise to do.

Could it be, you are lacking some nix essentials?

No could be about it. In the past my experience was limited to a few Live CDs, this is the 1st Linux system that I have tried for any length of time, primarily because it recognizes all my hardware including WiFi NIC.

Before dumping advices given, at the very least try them to minimise the legion of possibilities causing the headache.

I rarely dump advice, unfortunately my inexperience puts a lot of it over my head and capabilities. Booting from ISOs rather than installs adds complexities also.

Booting off external media is completly independent of what may live on either internal, or externl storage devices, like a typical hard disk.

Not in my experience. Booting a USB system that doesn't support SATA drives, like BartPE, can hang the boot process before getting to the desktop.

BTW I think fanthom's proposed "debug" change for Porteus 3.0 rc2 is what is needed. I implemented something similar that he proposed for me for 2.1 but wasn't sure how to use the sh option to capture what I was seeing.